Douglas Sapp and Michael Compton are counting on this being a
great summer--no, make that a really great summer--for their
Columbus, Ohio, toy manufacturing company, Resaurus Co. Inc. Why is
this duo so confident? Hint: It has to do with a big lizard--no,
make that a really big lizard.

" `Godzilla' is going to be huge," says Sapp,
38. "The hype on this thing is unbelievable."

In the wake of the monster-sized box-office numbers
"Godzilla" is expected to rake in all summer,
Resaurus' line of Godzilla puppets appears positioned to, well,
leap right off store shelves. Not that this 5-year-old company
doesn't already know a thing or two about leaping lizard-like
creatures.

"We'd always said we'd like to do [licensed
merchandise for] `The Lost World: Jurassic Park,' "
says Sapp, explaining the impetus for "The Lost World"
project. "We increased our business by 1,000 percent [because
of that movie]."

Considering last year's sales of $6.5 million, Sapp and his
32-year-old partner could easily be mistaken for two guys who had
big-time Hollywood connections. Wrong. The longtime friends first
used their art backgrounds to produce not toys but a dinosaur
poster. From that, they got the idea to create what has since
turned into their signature product: puppets.

Skeptical? So were retail buyers at first. "We had to
convince buyers who were [ordering] action figures and vehicles
that our products fit in the action aisle," explains Sapp, who
says some of Resaurus' puppets incorporate patent-pending sound
technology that simulates, say, dinosaurs roaring.

Obviously, toy consumers had to be convinced, too. In tapping
into kids' mindset, though, Sapp claims an advantage--six of
them, in fact. "They're a good group to run stuff
by," he says of his own kids. "If something stinks,
they're pretty quick to say `This is a terrible toy,
Dad.' " And we thought Godzilla was tough.